10 Freezer Meals for Busy Weeknights

This week's mission: to stock the freezer for the busy weeks ahead. But forget about those boring, tasteless meals that come packaged in cardboard — we're talking about homemade meals made with fresh ingredients that we actually look forward to eating. We have a pasta casserole layered with ripe summer tomatoes, instructions for making your own frozen pizzas, our favorite lentil soup, and many more freezer-friendly meal ideas. Only the best for our future dinners!

Making a good freezer meal really starts off with making a good meal, period. The recipes here are solid hitters in the flavor department, whether we're eating them for dinner tonight or freezing leftovers for later. In fact, you might think about making a double batch of some of these — eat half for meals this week and freeze the other half for future meals.

If you know a dish is headed straight to the freezer, it's smart to undercook the vegetables a bit so that they don't overcook when you're reheating. I find this to be an especially useful strategy for vegetable-heavy soups like Easy Green Minestrone. Also, if a recipe is finished with a little dairy or coconut milk, like our Lentil Soup with Lemon Yogurt Cream or the Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Soup, wait to add that dairy until reheating as it can sometimes become grainy once frozen.

Freeze meals in individual portions so that you only have to reheat what you need for dinner. To prevent freezer burn, wrap slices of casserole tightly in a double layer of plastic and foil. Soups do best if you freeze them in containers with minimal headspace and tight-fitting lids — though don't forget to leave a little space so they can expand as they freeze! All frozen foods are usually best if eaten within three months or so, after which even the most well-wrapped foods often start to develop freezer burn.

Ready to start stocking your freezer with tasty meals? All you need to do now is decide which ones to make!